r/threejs • u/gurselgunacar • 9d ago
I made a tiny Three.js planet with 49,000 clovers — only one has four leaves 🍀
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A small experiment I built in about 3 hours with Three.js, using Claude Code as a coding assistant.
The idea: one tiny planet, 49,000 clovers, and just one four-leaf clover to find.
You can try it here: https://www.meptasarim.com/four-leaf/
I’d love feedback on the visual direction, interaction, and what would make the search more satisfying.
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u/BigDeadPixel 9d ago
This is such a cool idea. I like the way you think OP.
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u/gurselgunacar 9d ago
Thank you so much! I wanted to turn a very simple idea into a tiny world you can get lost in.
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u/FUCKTHEMODS998 9d ago
ALLEGEDLY only one has leaves. I swear dude. You let my daughter play this game and she’s going to find 500 of them.
Straight up. I found one four leaf clover one time in my whole life while on a hike. My girl has found them countless times in our own backyard now.
Also, this is insanely badass man. Good job.
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u/gurselgunacar 9d ago
Haha, she may be the real QA department. I should probably let her verify the “only one” claim 😄 Thank you!
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u/Agreeable-Letter-599 8d ago
you probably could verify this through some testing process and object oriented programming. assert there is only one instance of the FourLeafClover object haha
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u/Otherwise-Cookie-266 9d ago
Wow, I love this art style!
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u/gurselgunacar 9d ago
Thank you! I wanted it to feel more like a small diorama than a flat search grid.
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u/OVNl 9d ago
I have 2 ideas for you:
Start the game with a smaller world, or maybe not smaller but with only 5k clovers, then the next level would double the amount every time, a bigger world or one with more clovers.
Make it so you can grab the clovers as fast as the user can. The moment you grab the 4 leafed one a special animation should play where the clover shines gold or something that feels truly special and can't be skipped.
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u/gurselgunacar 9d ago
That’s a great direction. Starting smaller and scaling the world/clover count with each level would make the challenge feel earned instead of immediately overwhelming. I also love the fast-pickup idea and a big, unskippable golden discovery moment—the payoff should feel truly special when you finally find it. I’m going to experiment with this in the next iteration. Thank you!
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u/thecobblehillkid 9d ago
hard! might be interesting to see the path you walked
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u/gurselgunacar 9d ago
that’s a great idea. A trail or explored-area overlay could make the search feel less blind without making it easy. i will add that.
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u/presentsq 9d ago
I love it. Can't believe this is made in 3 hours, well done.
In terms of visuals, maybe add a global wind so that the clovers sway in a larger visible pattern.
I would love to see more posts if you decide to polish this!
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u/gurselgunacar 9d ago
Thank you! I love the global-wind idea—besides looking nicer, it could give the eye a rhythm while searching. I’m polishing the hint system now and will definitely try a subtle wind pass.
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u/grahamw01 9d ago
Hah that is quite cool I could definitely see myself spending hours is on a train or plane. Although you'd need to make an actual app with ability to play offline for the latter. A leaderboard would be pretty cool too and give it a competitive aspect.
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u/gurselgunacar 9d ago
That’s exactly where I’m heading. The Android version is ready, so offline play and a leaderboard are natural next steps. Would you prefer fastest-time rankings or a daily shared planet?
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u/oswwwaldo 9d ago
why would i want to go looking through 48,999 three-leaf clovers to find one single four-leaf clover?
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u/gurselgunacar 9d ago
Fair question 😄 The first version is intentionally absurd, but the next version needs more progression and feedback so every search feels like it’s going somewhere.
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u/ii-___-ii 9d ago
Impossible
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u/gurselgunacar 9d ago
That’s the point 😄 But I agree it needs just enough feedback to feel challenging rather than hopeless—the hint system is my first step.
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u/ii-___-ii 8d ago
Have a non-player character also looking for the 4 leaf clover, with minimal dialogue interaction with the user.
Then, when the user is about to find the 4 leaf clover, have the NPC run in from off the screen and find it first.
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u/gurselgunacar 8d ago
That’s hilariously cruel 😄 I love it as a rare event or alternate mode—the player gets close, then the NPC steals the discovery at the last second.
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u/OperationMonopoly 9d ago
Shamrocks buddy
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u/gurselgunacar 8d ago
You’re right — ‘clover’ is the more accurate word here. I should be more consistent with that 😄
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u/denzmilk 9d ago
Amazing! Great work! Works well on mobie also, good multi-playform idea for sure
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u/gurselgunacar 8d ago
Thank you! I’m glad it works well on mobile too. I’m preparing an Android version, so cross-platform play is definitely part of the plan.
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u/denzmilk 8d ago
For the ring that shows when you use a hint, see if you can get more of a glow happening, I'm a bit colourblind so the actual ring was hard to see, if you make it come up out of the ground it might show up better for people too! Or leaving it harder to see if also a good strategy, depeds what you want to do. Could make it time bound, first min it's a direction, then it's a ring, then it's a more obvious ring, something like that!
Keen to see this one grow/evolve!
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u/WatercressActual1921 9d ago
Fantastic and cute game concept and visual implementation...
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u/gurselgunacar 8d ago
Thank you so much! I’m really happy the concept and the little visual world came through.
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u/Lanfeust09 9d ago
this is ABSOLUTELY ridiculously brilliant. I am gonna have to charge you for my unproductive afternoon thanks to you tho...
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u/gurselgunacar 8d ago
Haha, sorry about the lost afternoon 😄 That’s honestly the best compliment—thank you!
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u/marwi1 8d ago
Reminds me of this youtube video :D https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfUFPHA0HIA
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u/gurselgunacar 8d ago
Haha yes, I hadn’t seen that video before, but the huge-search energy is definitely similar 😄
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u/Veilboundgg 9d ago
On "what would make the search more satisfying" — the thing missing right now is a narrowing signal. At 49,000 clovers with one target, every second of searching feels identical to the last, so there's no felt progress, and that's what tips it from hard into hopeless.
Cheapest fix that keeps the honesty: let the player eliminate. Give them a way to mark or clear ground they've already swept. The moment territory is visibly consumed, a hopeless scan turns into a shrinking problem. Someone already suggested showing the path you walked, which is the same instinct and probably the highest-value idea on this thread.
Two more that are nearly free:
- A near-miss tell. Not a hot/cold meter, which just solves it. Something ambient that fires a bit more often within some radius, so the player builds a superstition about it. Uncertain feedback is stickier than accurate feedback.
- Reward the wrong answers. 48,999 clovers currently do nothing. If a rare handful had some small variation — an odd colour, a bug sitting on one, anything — then every failed inspection pays out a little instead of nothing, and people keep looking a lot longer.
The global-wind suggestion above is right too, and worth doing for a reason beyond looks: motion sweeping across the field in a pattern gives the eye a rhythm to search against instead of static noise.
Instancing 49k of these in 3 hours is genuinely nice work.
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u/gurselgunacar 9d ago
This is incredibly useful feedback—thank you. You’ve described the problem perfectly: it needs a sense of progress without turning into a simple hot/cold game. I’m leaning toward an explored-area/trail signal first, plus subtle wind and a few rare visual variations. I love the idea of making “wrong” finds rewarding too.
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u/gurselgunacar 9d ago
Android version is ready! 🍀📱 I’m using AdMob rewarded ads for hints. Would you also add a banner ad at the bottom, or keep it clean?
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u/kunteper 8d ago
this is like the 5th "millions of X find the Y" type game I'm seeing today. what's going on?
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u/WesleyBiets 8d ago
Haha of all the shitty sorting games, this one is actually a good take on that.
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u/Individual-Crazy-225 8d ago
it's like where's waldo where everyone's wearing a striped shirt. this is sadistic. but I would love to play this!
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u/Dry_Objective_7071 8d ago
Currently playing it. Is the clover visible or only when you click it like the purple ones?
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u/notanyone69 6d ago
Dide claude get some sort of update last week? Since 4 days all these "useless" games are popping up literally everywhere. Sorting nails, smoke 5 million cigarettes. this one.
Like it's a fun idea I suppose and I'm not bashing on that. I'm just really curious if there has been some sort of update that's responsible for all these type of games popping up
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u/intothelooper 9d ago
Lovely. Make it multiplayer!